Results 2,881-2,900 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 111: In page 52, line 7, to delete “may” and substitute “shall”.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The amendment is comprehensive and I will speak to two or three of its components. I am hopeful that either the Minister will accept this amendment or will bring some of its components forward on Report Stage. The reason this amendment is important is because the section in which the amendment may be inserted is the media service code section. At the moment we have the very good values,...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister has addressed the issue of gender to some extent and indicated her intention to look to those issues. It was useful and positive that she correctly identified that gender quotas are something that can be done and there is a lot of EU legislation in respect of them. That is positive, but on the issue of reporting in regard to music in particular, again, as Senator Warfield says,...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 114: In page 52, lines 13 and 14, to delete “that in programme material audiences are protected from anything harmful or offensive, and in particular”. While, in general, there are many areas where we would like to have a more proactive preventive role, we have identified specific areas where there should be prohibitions or restrictions. In some ways,...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Whatever resolution or proposal we may come to in respect of amendments Nos. 92 at 93 might need to be reflected or echoed in this section. Those amendments relate to harmful content, whereas this amendment relates to the media code. I imagine a similar solution can be found. I appreciate what the Minister has said. I sympathise with the fact that there need to be measures in this regard,...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 115: In page 52, to delete lines 16 and 17 and substitute the following: “(i) with due sensitivity to the subject matter and the audience,”. I am concerned about how this is framed because there could be a potential mandate for a restriction on equality, rather than supporting it. At the moment, the Bill states, "With due sensitivity to the...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am concerned about what I believe is an excessive reliance on the Broadcasting Act. We need an acknowledgement that we are not dealing with the exact same thing. Simply taking the fact that a previous piece of legislation exists in terms of the 2009 Act, we should legislate for what we know to be the world and its concerns rather than simply following through on measures from a previous...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I accept the subject matter is sexual conduct. I refer to how LGBT rights have been treated in our media and in the media of our neighbouring country. Due sensitivity to the convictions or feelings of the audience is one thing but what has happened is that the convictions of persons who do not really recognise the rights of transgender people have been given an equal footing with the...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 116: In page 52, line 19, after “mental” to insert “, emotional”. This amendment seeks to add the term "emotional" to the list of developmental categories for children which should be respected in regard to making standards and practices on broadcasts depicting gratuitous violence or sexual content, effectively anything that may impair their...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In that context, I would especially urge the Minister to revisit the convictions point given that those convictions may be read alongside the moral development point. I appreciate the Minister is bound by the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. I may reserve the right to find another way to look at perhaps an additional point in regard to protection from emotional harm. However, in a...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I did acknowledge that the debate has been better in Ireland than in other countries. Senator Cassells mentioned persons with a disability. Persons with a disability have found that many people seem to be offended by discussion of their sexual activity, for example. Persons with a disability have really had to push for visibility of their right to have relationships and be sexually active....

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 117: In page 52, line 19, to delete "moral" and substitute "emotional".

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 118: In page 52, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: "(ca) for the avoidance of doubt, in paragraph (c)(ii) sexual conduct shall not be construed to include educational materials which feature discussion of sexual content and seek to provide education on topics such as consent, sexual health and relationships,". This is a caveat to the same section we...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister very much. In this context I withdraw the amendment and reserve the right to reintroduce it on Report Stage.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 119: In page 52, line 21, after "that" to insert "advertisements and". This is on the issue of advertising and commercial communications.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 120: In page 53, line 17, to delete "may" and substitute "shall".

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 121: In page 53, line 18, after "in" to insert "advertising or".

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 122: In page 53, line 18, after "of" to insert "advertisements and".

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 125: In page 53, line 22, after "sugars" to insert "or substitutes for breast milk".

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 127: In page 53, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: "(5A) Provision made for the purpose referred to in subsection (2)(d)(ii) may prohibit or restrict the inclusion in advertising or programmes of advertisements or commercial communications relating to the promotion of gambling or speculative financial activities likely to pose a significant financial...